ByMatthew ShaerMay 17, 2011

Well, that's one way to apologize. Today, Sony announced it would compensate users affected by the PSN outage with a range of niceties, including a range of free PSP games, PS3 titles, free movie rentals, a bunch of free virtual items for PlayStation Home, and a free 30 days PlayStation Plus membership. PSN users will have thirty days to choose from this grab bag.

So what kind of free games are we dealing with here? Some pretty good ones, it turns out, from LittleBigPlanet and Killzone Liberation for the PSP, to Dead Nation and inFAMOUS for the PS3. Alas, there are limits to Sony's generosity: Gamers can only snag two titles from each list, for a maximum takeaway of four free games. Still, free games are free games, so let's not get greedy.

The PSN was shuttered by Sony on April 20, following a massive data breach. Over the weekend, Sony reps announced that service was slowly and incrementally being restored, and urged gamers to be patient. As we noted yesterday, in order to log back on to the PSN, users will have to download a software update and reset their password; members are also encouraged to enroll in a free credit protection service called AllClear ID Plus.

"I'd like to send my sincere regret for the inconvenience this incident has caused you, and want to thank you all for the kind patience you've shown as we worked through the restoration process," Kazuo Hirai, the executive deputy president of Sony Corp, said in a statement. "I can't thank you enough for your patience and support during this time."

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